Life After Death/Issue 5
"I'm very sorry, Bryce," the person on the phone said. "But Myah has passed away. We tried all we could to save her, but the cancer had spread too far. We'll give you a few days to..." Bryce dropped the phone to the floor, and stared into space. He couldn't believe what had just happened. His wife - dead. He was mortified, saddened, and above all else, enraged. "Who was that, daddy?" a small child said as she entered the kitchen. Bryce turned around, and hit the child across the face, knocking her onto her back, causing her to start crying. "Your mother died, Leslie, and it's your fault! She got cancer...because you were born." Meanwhile, in the living room, an older boy sat on the couch, watching these events transpire in horror. "Devon!" Bryce yelled at the boy. "Go make me a cup of coffee. I need to relax." "Yes, sir," Devon said, and totterred into the kitchen, past his crying sister and abusive father. After about five minutes, Devon walked into the dining room, where his father was now sitting, staring blankly at the wall. "Here," Devon said as he passed the cup to his father. "It's about time," he rudely responded. "Now, go to your room with your sister." Devon walked down the barron hallway, and entered the last door on his left. Inside, his sister was sitting in the corner, crying. "It's okay, Leslie," he said to her. "Dad's a jerk, but don't worry, I'll protect you." ---- A bullet flew into the reanimated corpse's head, and it fell to the ground. Devon looked back at Andre, who was signalling for him to go to the vehicles. "Go on!" he screamed. "There's a hoard coming!" Devon looked back and saw at least two dozen more starting to come around the corner. Devon bolted to everyone else while Andre fired two more bullets. "Leslie!" Devon said to himself, as he turned around and ran back to Emily's tent. "I knew this was coming," Eric said to himself as he jumped off the back of the truck, and pulled out his machette. He aproached the swarm and started killing them, one by one. Brie pulled out a hunting rifle, and stood on the back of the truck, firing at them. "There's gotta be at a couple hundred of them!" Dolph said, as he ran up with his crowbar to aid Eric. Andre tossed the pistol to Emily, grabbed his fire axe, and ran to the other side of the tents, where more of them were now pouring through. "We don't have enough ammo for this," Brie stated. "We need to go!" "We're not leaving Devon and Leslie behind," Emily said as she started firing her pistol. "If he's going to take all day getting his sister," Bill started. "Let them die. We need to save ourselves while we can. I refuse to waste ammo on dead meat." "Fuck you," Gregory said. "I may not be the nicest guy here, but at least I'm not some selfish prick who refuses to save two kids who we have the ability to save. You want to be like that? Then leave with your daughter, right now. Asshole." "Shut the fuck up, old man. You don't know what I've been through." "No, because you never talk about it! You keep us in the dark, then, when something goes wrong, bring up this mysterious past, then refuse to elaborate." "I had to kill my wife." "Your wife died, big deal. So did mine. So did Andre's." "No, you don't understand. I had to kill her. Myself. I didn't have those things do it for me. I did it. Right in front of my daughter. Do you know how traumatizing that is?" "At least you got to say goodbye to your wife. She was eaten alive right in front of me. And at least you still have your child. Mine's in the same boat as her." Meanwhile, Devon zipped open the tent, to see Leslie huddling in the corner. "What's going on?" she said shakily. "The dead are here," Devon told her. "We need to go, come on. I'll protect you." Devon held his arm out, and Leslie grabbed it. ---- Four years after Myah's death, Bryce had been driven into a deep depression. He still would occasionally beat on his children, but life without his wife was rough on him. He was sitting on his couch with a beer, watching a football game, when Leslie kicked a toy soccer ball into his leg, causing him to spill his beer. "Oh, fuck!" he yelled, and got up off the couch. He walked over to Leslie, put his hand in a fist, and pulled it back. "Leave her alone," Devon said from the corner of the room. "Eh?" "I said, leave her alone." "Oh, I see. You're a big boy now and you want to stand up against me, is that it?" "I'm not going to let you hurt her anymore." "Is that so?" Bryce walked over to Devon, and hit him across the face. "Don't ever talk back to me again." Devon stared him straight in the eyes, and kicked him in the crotch as hard as he could. "AH!" Bryce screamed, and fell over in agony. Devon and Leslie both ran in their room and shut the door. A few weeks later, Bryce sat on his bed in his room, looking at a picture of his wife. He quietly sobbed, and placed the picture on the bed. Beside him, he picked up a knife, and held his left wrist out. He slowly placed the knife on it, and sliced. He kept slicing and slicing as blood gushed all over him. Eventually, Bryce dropped the knife, and fell onto the floor, dead. In front of a house a few days later, a cop car pulled up. Devon and Leslie stepped out and the cop helped them grab their bags. He walked up to the door with them, and rang the doorbell. A scrawny woman with long, black hair opened up the door. "Hello, kids," the woman said in a sort of fake-happy tone to hide her sorrow for her brother's death. "Hello, auntie Judy," Devon and Leslie said simultaneously. ---- Devon ran out of the tent, with Leslie right behind. They attempted to run for the rest of the group, when Devon felt a tug on his arm. "AH!" Leslie screamed. Devon turned around to see one of the undead ripping a chunk of flesh out of her neck. "LESLIE!" Devon screamed. "NO!" The undead pulled Leslie from his hand, and continued to chomp on her while she screamed. Devon shambled backwards a few feet, and then fell on his side. "Devon," Eric yelled. "Come on, get the hell up! Now! DEVON!" That was all Devon could make out as he lay on the ground. Everything else was just faded noise. He could feel the cold, moist grass brush up against his bloody face. It happened so fast, he didn't know what to do but lay there and give up. There was nothing left for him. He didn't see the point of getting up and continuing on with his miserable life, only to eventually die the same, horrible fate everyone else eventually will. Why not end the torture now? His mind was settled. Devon looked back and saw the reanimated corpses shuffle ever so slowly towards him as the walked past his sister, still being devoured. Tears streamed down his face, and he cringed at the thought of them tearing the flesh from his bones, but accepted that as his inevitable fate. He took a deep breath, and closed his eyes, patiently waiting for the feeling of sharp, jagged teeth sinking in to his skin. The feeling of chunks of his skin being torn out of his leg. The feeling of death. All of a sudden, he felt someone grab him by the shoulders. "I'm not letting you die," Dolph said. He dragged Devon backwards as Emily ran forwards to shoot some of the undead. She pointed her gun at Leslie, who was still half-heartedly screaming, and fired, as a tear fell down her face. Dolph pulled Devon into the back of the truck. "Let's go!" he yelled. Andre hopped into the driver seat of the car, Brie and Bill got into the back and passenger seat of it respectively, Emily and Eric got into the front seats of the truck, and Dolph and Gregory got into the back. The two vehicles sped off into the distance, leaving the tents and Leslie's corpse behind. Credits * * * (Flashback) * * * * * * * * (Flashback) Deaths *Myah Brandt (Flashback, Confirmed Fate) *Bryce Brandt (Flashback) *Leslie Brandt Trivia *First and last mention of (Flashback). *First and last appearance of (Flashback). *Last appearance of (Flashback). *Last appearance of . *The hoard of zombies is the same one that caused Devon to crash in the forest in Issue 2.